Page:The Works of Aristotle - Vol. 6 - Opuscula (1913).djvu/91

Rh composite, such as the branches and twigs and the like. These are not all found in all plants; for some have composite and some simple parts, while others do not have them. Some plants possess various other parts as well (roots, twigs), leaves, pedicels, flowers, catkins, tendrils, and bark surrounding the fruit.

Just as in the animal, so also in the plant there are members consisting of similar parts, and some of the parts of a plant are composed of other members. The bark of a plant resembles the skin of an animal, while the root of a plant is like the mouth of an animal, and its fibres are like an animal's muscles, and so with its other parts. Any of these parts can be divided on one principle into similar parts, or a division can be made by dissimilar parts (just as mud can be divided in one way into particles of earth only and in another into particles of water; similarly the lungs and flesh can be divided up on one principle so that they are pieces of flesh, while on the other principle they can be divided into their elements or radical parts). But a hand cannot be divided up into another hand, nor a root into another root, nor leaves into other leaves; but these roots and leaves are themselves the result of composition. Some fruits are composed of few parts, some of many—olives, for example, which are made up of bark and a fleshy substance and a shell and a seed. Some fruits have as many as three coverings. All seeds consist of two bodies. We have now mentioned the parts of which individual plants consist. The conclusion of our discussion is this: it is a difficult task to determine the parts of the